Karina Pereira

Description of the motor development of 3–12 month old infants with Down syndrome: The influence of the postural body position

The purpose of the present study was to describe the rate of motor development in infants with Down syndrome in the age range of 3-12 months and identify the difficulties both in performance and acquiring motor skills in prone, supine, sitting and standing positions. Nineteen infants with Down syndrome and 25 healthy full term typical infants were assessed using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) monthly from 3 to 12 months of age. The infants with Down syndrome achieved significant later the level of motor performance of the typical infants. In the supine posture, the performance was significantly lesser for the Down syndrome infants in comparison to the typical infants from the 3rd to 6th month and in the 8th month. In the prone, sitting and standing postures this difference is found for all the months. In conclusion, the sequence of motor development of the Down syndrome is the same as the typical infants. However infants with Down syndrome need more time to acquire skills, mainly antigravitational ones, among them the standing position.

Intervenção psicomotora em crianças de nível socioeconômico baixo

Visou-se identificar o perfil psicomotor de criancas de baixo nivel socioeconomico e verificar o efeito nelas de um programa de intervencao psicomotora. Participaram do estudo seis criancas do sexo masculino, na faixa de 10 a 12 anos (11,5±0,92). Os participantes foram avaliados utilizando-se uma bateria psicomotora que avalia sete fatores psicomotores: tonicidade, equilibracao, lateralizacao, nocao do corpo, estruturacao espaco-temporal, praxia global e fina; de acordo com o desempenho da crianca, os fatores sao pontuados de 1 a 4; o escore 1 refere-se ao perfil apraxico, 2 ao dispraxico, 3 ao eupraxico e 4 ao hiperpraxico. Com base nas dificuldades detectadas foi elaborado um programa de intervencao psicomotora, aplicado durante tres meses, em 16 sessoes de uma hora de duracao, duas vezes por semana. Ao termino da intervencao os participantes foram reavaliados. Pela avaliacao inicial, o perfil dos participantes foi predominantemente eupraxico nos fatores equilibracao, lateralizacao, nocao do corpo, praxia global e praxia fina; nos fatores tonicidade e estruturacao espaco-temporal o perfil foi predominantemente dispraxico. Apos o programa de intervencao houve aumento estatisticamente significativo (p<0.05) na pontuacao nos fatores tonicidade, equilibracao, estruturacao espaco-temporal, praxia global e praxia fina, sugerindo que o programa de intervencao psicomotora aplicado beneficiou o desempenho psicomotor de criancas de baixo nivel socioeconomico.

Hidrocinesioterapia no tratamento fisioterapêutico de um lactente com Síndrome de Down: estudo de caso

INTRODUCTION: The sensorial deficits presented at Down Syndrome may interfere in the posture control, movements, balance and coordination. Therefore, it the physiotherapy intervention is important. However, the literature is scarce regarding the aquatic therapy effects. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of hydrokinesiotherapy such as a complementary method of physiotherapy treatment in the acquisition of gross motor skills in an infant with Down Syndrome and hearing deficiency. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One infant with Down Syndrome, male, 1 year and 4 months old, with severe bilateral hearing deficiency participated of this study. The gross motor development was assessed by Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS), which was applied in pre-intervention and in Step I and II post-intervention. Step I was physiotherapy intervention on the floor based on Neuroevolutive Concept. Step II was Neuroevolutive Concept plus hydrokynesiotherapy. Both the steps were conducted in 24 sessions. RESULTS: After Step I and II, there was an increase of three points in total score of AIMS, ranging from 11 to 14 and from 14 to 17, respectively. After Step I, one point increased in postures supine, sitting and standing; one and two points increased in the posture prone and sitting respectively, after Step II. CONCLUSION: Hydrokinesiotherapy improved the sensorial stimulation and control and strengthening of muscles of the trunk, reflecting a better motor performance of antigravity postures, prone and sitting.